May You Live In Interesting Times
by ReikaLady
Summary: Kat Indigo never thought she'd end up working for Cerberus, but she did and is trying to make the best of it. At least it's the Normandy, even if her infamous "luck" seems to be striking even there...


_Author's note: This isn't really meant to be a write up of ME2, but it is based around it and I don't know how much I'll write for this. But this is from a mental image that's been bugging me for awhile. And because this is me, I'll start the rating at M, because you never know what my brain is going to come up with. ;)_

"So whatcha up to?"

The too casual question from Jeff "Joker" Moreau made her mental hackles go up. She cast a surreptitious glance around, yep, no one else at any of the other stations. Peachy. Why did he have to keep annoying _her_ of all the people on the Normandy? Stifling the urge to run her fingers through her short cropped, dishwater blond hair, since she knew that action would just encourage him, the nondescript woman kept her hazel eyes on the screen of her workstation. Very coolly, hoping to discourage the annoying critter so he'd go irritate someone else, she said, "My job."

"Y'know, there's no harm in chatting. Especially this late at night when there's no one else around."

She didn't have to look up to know he was leering slightly. There were reasons why she'd opted for the third shift. Typically everyone who didn't have some sort of watch duty was sound asleep so she had peace and quiet. Her job was in no way, shape, or form, mission critical. And probably the most incredibly boring one to the rest of the crew. But it did require some concentration to be able to make sure that she got the maximum payload with the minimum resources used.

Besides, some form of mineral extraction was expected for someone with her degrees, and to be honest, she really did prefer doing said extractions via remote probes.

There were far less chances of being shot at, spit at, or chewed on. She was a big fan of less bodily damage done to her person.

Sure, EDI could have done the job, but there was something to be said about the Mark One eyeball combined with human instinct.

Katherine "Kat" Indigo had very good instincts that had been honed by a decent education. Of course that education meant a lot of time spent in the field, often on backwater, alien worlds that were resource rich. And often rich in lifeforms that weren't always friendly. Kat had originally intended to work for one of the large mining conglomerates when she'd gotten a better offer from a company that described itself as an up and coming start-up that had the need of a geological engineer with her qualifications.

Unfortunately, that "up and coming start-up" proved to be a front for Cerberus. Undoubtedly one of her qualifications that appealed to them was the fact she had no family to speak of. Her parents and siblings had died in a house fire when she was very young. Or so the social workers said, she didn't remember it herself. Then she was bounced around in the foster care system until she was old enough to take care of herself.

Which meant at the ripe age of sixteen, she was on her own. Which she was just fine with, it meant she didn't have interfering busybodies trying to "help" her. First Kat had gotten a menial job that took care of the basic necessities, then found ways of getting an education since she was smart enough to realize that was the key to getting out out of the festering shithole of the slums in the New York megaplex.

She'd been right, it'd gotten her out of the slums and into the stars. First as part of her graduate degree, then her job. A lucrative job at that, even if the employer wasn't exactly ideal.

Once she'd gotten over her initial, somewhat hysterical, reaction to the fact she was now working for the infamous pro-human terrorist organization, she was secretly thrilled to find out that she'd be serving on the brand new Normandy under the command of the very much alive Richard Shepard. The last part still confused her since there'd been reports that he'd died pretty horrifically a couple of years ago, but being at the bottom of the food chain meant she didn't need to know the how or the why. In all actuality, she had no real desire to know anything about what really happened. She certainly didn't expect to meet the man who was something of a hero to the somewhat cynical woman.

Not that she'd ever admit that she had such a hero to anyone else since she barely acknowledged the fact to herself.

While her distant hero remained so, Joker didn't have the same courtesy and he rapidly wore away her awe at serving on the famous Normandy. Even if it was a brand new Normandy. Or the thrill at the fact that in some indirect way she was going to serve on the crew that was still going to do something about the colonists that were being abducted. Of course there'd been stories about the original crew of the Normandy, but unfortunately none of them mentioned just how incredibly annoying Joker really was. For some ungodly reason he took an interest in her and nothing she did discouraged him.

The man would just not take a hint. Even if it was big enough to threaten to shatter his legs. He'd just smirked at her when she growled at him with that threat.

A miniature version EDI's spherical icon appeared at the console to her station, "Voice stress levels indicate that there is an emotional disturbance. Are you all right, Miss Indigo?"

Great, EDI was getting involved now.

Personally, Kat had no issues with the ship's AI. Smart enough to keep her opinions to herself, she didn't have problems with AIs in general. The way she saw it, the geth were simply trying to protect themselves from Quarians. But she didn't really want the AI getting involved in this situation since she had a good idea it'd be reporting details back to Cerberus.

God only knew what they'd do to one engineer that didn't have the good graces to put up with their pet pilot.

She cast a slight look out of the corner of her as she saw a shift in the annoying man's stance and seeing the look of utter dislike cross his expression at the icon lifted her heart.

So maybe having the AI get involved wouldn't be a bad idea after all.

Kat sighed, "Fine. Just... Mr. Moreau being his usual charming self."

The "charming" man scowled at the AI, muttered something about maintenance logs before hobbling off.

If EDI had a face, Kat suspected she'd be frowning at the human woman. "Are you sure, Miss Indigo?"

"Please, EDI, I already told you it's all right to call me Kat. And I'm positive that I'm _fine_, but thank you for your concern."

The little icon vanished from the console, but she had the feeling that she was still being watched. Unable to resist the urge any longer, she clenched her hair in her hands and quietly uttered, "Argh!"

Then hastily said, "I'm fine, EDI."

Shaking her head at the vagaries of men and computers, Kat put the earbuds of her music player into her ears and finally got down to work.

Hours later, she desperately wanted some food, a chance to clean up then a few hours of uninterrupted shut eye in her bunk. But there was no chance of that due to her find of a massive deposit of Eezo. There had been other rare minerals she'd located and extracted, but none that brought the attention the way the incredibly rare Element Zero did. Not surprisingly the amount of the element had spread like wildfire through the ship and Kat suddenly found herself with far more attention than she was used to, or comfortable with.

She'd also located some sort of anomaly near the deposit, but that was being kept under wraps. She most definitely didn't want to know, figuring that it was better not to ask questions about such things. Especially considering who was in charge of the operation. However when the Commander and his away team returned, they seemed grimly pleased.

Thankfully Joker was kept occupied by monitoring the team and its progress.

Not so thankfully, Miranda Lawson wanted to speak with her.

Kat may not have dealt with secretive, terrorist organizations before, but she had spent years in graduate school. She'd rather swim in a pool of piranha than deal with the top of the local food chain. She figured the ship's highest ranking officers, even if it wasn't a military ship, wouldn't be much different from professional academics. Well, their weapons were visible at least.

Wanting to be anywhere than where she was, Kat strapped on some mental titanium to her backbone before tapping the door control to ask for entry. With a soft chime the door to Miranda Lawson's quarters opened. Great, the Cerberus goon really was expecting her.

At first, Kat only saw Miranda sitting at her desk. Then she realized that there was another person in the room that was a combination of office and bedroom. She had to strap on some more mental support when she realized that the other person was no one other than Commander Shepard himself.

_Fan-fucking-tastic_, she thought as she studied the man whose battered features would never be called handsome, even before all of the combat he'd seen. But there was something compelling about the way he carried himself that for all he wasn't a big man, he automatically generated respect. The commander lounged in the chair with a lethal grace that was reminiscent of one of the great cats from Earth. Mentally she frowned, for some reason he seemed familiar, and not the meeting a famous war hero type familiar, or the familiarity of someone you pass in the halls at work all the time either. More like the long lost acquaintance you haven't seen in ages. That couldn't be right though, since she'd never seen the man in the flesh until she'd been on the Normandy for a few weeks.

Deciding that letting her mind wander in front of these two people would be a very Bad Idea. Striving to sound cool, calm and collected when she was anything but, she said "You wanted to see me, sir, ma'am?"

And tried not to wince as her voice went slightly up in pitch from her nervousness. All right, maybe it more like she was scared shitless. Besides, she was also somewhat annoyed that she was starving and had to meet two of the most important people on the ship. Kat really hoped her stomach wouldn't make any embarrassing sounds because it'd been way too long since lunch. For some reason she seemed to amuse them.

That didn't do anything to help her nerves.

Smiling faintly, Miranda gestured for the young woman to take the empty seat in front of the desk. Even more fantastic, an extended chat. Kat absently wondered if she was going to survive this meeting. Even though there hadn't been any incidents of them doing anything awful to the crew, with the way her luck ran, she'd end up being the first example. If there were any problems, Miranda didn't show any signs of displeasure. The opposite the fact, as the officer tapped at a display on her desk, she smiled a bit more, "Thank you for meeting with us, Miss Indigo. First I'd like to thank you for not just finding that Element Zero deposit and the very fine work in extracting it. That will help more than you know with some research projects."

Wondering what was going on, Kat resisted the urge to rub the back of her head out of nerves, instead keeping her hands firmly clasped together in her lap. She said softly, "Just doing my job, Ms. Lawson."

"And I'm sure you're wondering why you're here?" The commander rumbled.

Afraid that she'd squeak out her response, she nodded respectfully to the man. If this was due to Joker, who she knew had a long standing friendship with the commander, she was going to sic EDI on the jerk.

"It has to do with the ruins you found."

Ruins? Is that what that anomaly was? She hadn't actually done an extensive survey once she realized that whatever it was that had been screwing with her sensors could be important. She'd passed along what she had to EDI to deal with per protocol. And the fact she had the biggest deposit of Eezo she'd ever encountered to extract. While she had been vaguely curious, she wasn't the type to go poking around in something that wasn't any of her business. Kat still figured it was a bad idea to be too curious in an organization like Cerberus. "I don't understand, sir."

Dammit, that came out as a squeak, instead of the professional she knew she was.

He laughed, a surprisingly warm sound, "Relax, Indigo, I'm not going to bite. Of course, I can't speak for Miranda."

As Miranda mock scowled, the faint twitch upward of her generous mouth ruining the effect, Kat tried, and failed miserably, at trying to calm down. Instead she sat even more rigidly than before. But she had to ask, despite her policy of not giving into her curiosity, "Why me, Commander? I'm not an archaeologist."

"No, but you are our resident mining expert. There were some interesting mining tunnels I'd like you to take a look at."

She frowned thoughtfully as she asked, "Groundside, right sir?"

It had to be groundside, otherwise she would've been notified to look at video, either live or recorded, as she'd been asked to a handful of times before. Miranda's attitude chilled, "Is there a problem, Miss Indigo?"

"Oh no, ma'am. Just making sure." While she wasn't exactly thrilled about going into an unknown mine on a potentially hostile world, it would be good to get off the ship to actually do the hands on work she preferred. Even if it meant wearing protective gear since the atmosphere wasn't entirely safe for humans to breathe. But why did they want her to go down in person?

The commander's dark eyes regarded her knowingly, "So you want to know why you're going in person?"

"Yes, sir." Thankfully that time her voice didn't squeak.

"Unfortunately, we can't get reliable transmissions in the section I want you to look at. And I suspect that this is something you'll need to see in person anyway."

"What exactly did you want me to see, Commander?" Well...crap, she was curious now despite herself. It was most definitely trouble, this kind of thing usually was from past experience, and why it took her eight years to get her Masters, even with taking classes during the summer terms. Modern medicine could only speed up the healing process just so much.

He gave her a small smile, "I want you to go in with fresh eyes, Indigo. And I'm sorry to delay your shuteye, but after here I want you to report to Jacob to get fitted in one of the spare suits of armor."

She didn't smile back, hoped she wouldn't faint. Armor, dear god, was it that bad down there? Unaware of how pale she'd gotten, Kat didn't feel any better as the commander gave her another smile, one meant to reassure the nervous woman. It did the opposite, "Just a precaution on my part. There wasn't anything hostile when we went in, but I prefer not to take any risks. Besides the environmental seals are better on the armor anyway."

Well, he did have a point there about the armor's seals. She'd never had any fail on her with suits used in the past, but she'd seen it happen to others. Not that armor was guaranteed not to fail, but they were better quality in general for obvious reasons. Shepard continued, "You'll also be issued an assault rifle and sidearm. Again as a precaution."

Shifting uneasily in her seat, the engineer tried to figure out how to diplomatically say no to having the rifle. She had no problems with having a pistol, she'd gotten used to having one a long time ago as a means of self-defense in the slums before she moved into a better neighborhood. The habit had stayed with her, but the thought of an assault rifle...

Miranda forestalled any of her protests as she called up another record on her screen, "I know you're not just trained in them. For a civilian, you're quite skilled and I'd say that you're probably better than some marines."

Kat couldn't hide her wince. She'd learned the hard way in their usage a few years ago and never wanted to use one again. But for the same reason she kept her pistol, she kept up with the rifle. It was just that every time she picked up one of those guns, it brought back the painful memories of what could be released if a mining crew wasn't careful.

Shepard nodded his agreement with Miranda's comment, "Like I said, it's just a precaution, but I want you to be able to defend yourself if you need to. I really do doubt it'll come to that, particularly since I'll be leading the team, and we'll have Garrus and Jacob with us."

Kat really didn't like where this was heading. Three of the toughest combat personnel on the ship were going? Though at least they weren't bringing Grunt. While she had no issues with krogan in general, she didn't really want to deal with one on what was going to be a highly stressful situation for her. But she kept her concerns to herself, they evidently really wanted her to see this mine up close and personal for some reason. "Um, yes, sir."

He chuckled at her less than enthusiastic response, "Go get some chow before you see Jacob, then get as much rest as you can get. The shuttle debarks at oh eight hundred hours."

"Of course you're excused from your regular duties tonight," Miranda added, "And you'll get hazard pay and benefits for the mission."

She blinked, no hostiles, but still getting hazard pay? Sure, it was optional for doing any away missions, and maybe they meant it to act as incentive for her to do said mission. But she was pretty sure this was going to be a mess. At least they had a good medical team on hand. And if she did get injured, she could still do her regular duties. But just hoped that it wouldn't make her a captive audience to Joker during her recuperation. It never occurred to her that she wouldn't get injured. At some point someone had cursed her with "May you live in interesting times", because if there was going to be an unhappy critter, fate decried she'd be one of the chewtoys. All she said was, "Thank you, ma'am."

The Cerberus officer smiled, "Do you have any other questions?"

Oh yes, she had questions, but none she dared give voice. Kat shook her head, "No, ma'am."

"Very well. Go get something to eat before you fall over then see Jacob."

Thank god, they were finally letting her go. Kat tried to get up without any undignified haste. She didn't want them to think she was running away from them. Well, she was, but it wouldn't look good for her superiors to realize just how freaking terrified she was. Just as her hand reached out to the door controls, Miranda asked, "Miss Indigo?"

Reluctantly, Kat stopped and turned to look questioningly at Miranda.

"I have a personal question if you don't mind."

This didn't bode well, but she figured she'd indulge the woman, "Ah, no. What did you want to know, ma'am."

"Why is it that a woman with your talents go into such a career? With your intelligence, you could be doing anything, including fields that are much more rewarding, and not just monetarily."

That question was the last thing she expected, but not the first time she'd been asked that. She couldn't help her wry smile as she gave her stock answer, "Truth is, I like rocks."

Simple, but true. She found them fascinating, from how they were formed and what they consisted of. All the shades and colors they came in. The textures and densities. All the myriad uses they could be put to. Ever since she was given a piece of pyrite when she was a child, she'd been caught by the wonders of the bones of the world. And said so in a more condensed version of her thoughts.

For some reason the commander frowned at her while Miranda nodded thoughtfully, "Thank you, Miss Indigo. I won't keep you any longer."

This time, Kat didn't care about dignity, she made her hasty escape.


End file.
